News

INEOS boss says Hinkley nuclear power too expensive

In an interview with the BBC's business editor Robert Peston, the boss of one of the UK's biggest energy consumers has warned that power from the new Hinkley C nuclear generator will be too expensive.Jim Ratcliffe, whose company INEOS owns the Grangemouth plant in Scotland, told the BBC that UK manufacturers would find the price unaffordable.The government has guaranteed a price of £92.50 per megawatt hour (Mwh).Mr Ratcliffe said INEOS recently agreed a deal for nuclear power in France at 45 euros (£37.94) per Mwh. The government has guaranteed that the new Hinkley station, being developed by France's EdF and backed by Chinese investors, can charge the £92.50 minimum price for 35 years.

Our world-scale petrochemical plants make around 1 million tonnes per annum of product, used as the building blocks in the manufacture of household items that society depends upon every day. These include synthetic ethanol, ethylene, propylene and polymers: polyethylene and polypropylene.